RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Voters have sent North Carolina's longest serving congressman back to the U.S. House.

U.S. Rep. Howard Coble has been elected to a 15th term in North Carolina's 6th Congressional District.

The 81-year-old Republican had 60 percent of the vote in early and unofficial returns Tuesday to beat 63-year-old former Democratic state senator Tony Foriest.

Coble decided to run again despite some health problems that included a two-week stay in the hospital with a respiratory infection in 2011 and back surgery earlier this year.

The 6th District includes much of Guilford County outside of High Point and Greensboro as well as non-urban areas to the east and five counties that border Virginia.